Our Ref: 2802  

Dear Enquirer,

INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your request for information which will be dealt with under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, we
will let you know the likely charges before proceeding.

If you have any queries about this matter please contact us. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Kind regards

Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF

Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [Northumberland County Council request email]
Web: http://www.northumberland.gov.uk

Our Ref: 2802   

Dear Enquirer,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST

I refer to your Freedom of Information request  as detailed below:

I would like a complete List of occupied residential postal addresses In
Northumberland.

Would you include contact names telephone numbers email addresses as I
believe that it is in the interest of the public purse as the info is
processed using this purse.

Right of Access

Section 1(1) of the Act provides any person making a request for
information to a public authority is entitled.

(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds
information of the description specified in the request (which Section
1(6) of the Act designates as the "duty to confirm or deny"), and

(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.

The right is to obtain access to the information itself and not to the
document or record which contains it.

The Act creates a general right of access to information held by public
authorities subject to various exemptions.

Duty to confirm or deny

Northumberland County Council can confirm that the following Services hold
certain information relating to your request as detailed below:

* Elections Services

* Council Tax

Election Services Records

Some of the information you have requested relates to information held by
the office of the Elections Returning Officer.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 covers any recorded information that
is held by a public authority in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Public Authorities are defined in schedule 1 of the Freedom of Information
Act, however the Elections Returning Officer is not covered by this
schedule and therefore your request falls outside of the scope of the Act.

Your request has been considered outside of the remit of this legislation,
however we are unable to provide you with the information you require as
this would be in breach of the requirements set out under the Data
Protection Act, and also electoral legislation.

Unless an individual is statutorily entitled under the Representation of
the People Regulations 2001 to receive a copy of the full register of
electors, they are not legally permitted a full copy of our database.
Under no circumstances would we provide telephone numbers or email
addresses for members of the public.

The ERO is not in a position to state whether a property is occupied or is
empty; the register of electors indicates only whether anyone at an
address has taken steps to register themselves to vote.

We could provide the following information:

* a copy of our residential address database provided at a charge of £15
for a data copy. This would include all residential addresses on our
database but would not include any personal details as to who is
registered.

* a copy of the open register provided at a statutory charge of £380 for
a data copy or £1210 for a paper copy. This would provide only a
partial address database, including only those addresses at which
registered electors have not opted out of inclusion on the open
register. No contact details would be included.

If you would like to proceed with one of the above options please get in
touch directly with the Elections Office on either 01670 624811 or
[1][email address]

Council Tax Records

Details of residential addresses are held for the purposes of the
administration of the Council Tax system within the Northumberland County
Council area. The Council in obtaining such personal information from
members of the public is required to process this information in
accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. As the
information requested includes personal data the Council is required to
consider whether this can be provided or whether this is exempt under
Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act. The Council's consideration
of this matter is detailed in the section below

Exemptions

The Freedom of Information Act sets out various exemptions to the right of
access.

In the present case the County Council takes the view that some
information is exempt under section 40, on the basis that it is personal
information. In this case the Authority relies on sections 40(2) and (3a).

Section 40 - Personal information .

(1) Any information to which a request for information relates is
exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant
is the data subject.

(2) Any information to which a request for information relates is also
exempt information if- (a) it constitutes personal data which do not
fall within subsection (1), and (b) either the first or the second
condition below is satisfied.

(3) The first condition is- (a) in a case where the information
falls within any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of the definition of "data" in
section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure of the
information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would
contravene- (i) any of the data protection principles, or (ii)
section 10 of that Act (right to prevent processing likely to cause damage
or distress), and (b) in any other case, that the disclosure of the
information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would
contravene any of the data protection principles if the exemptions in
section 33A(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (which relate to manual
data held by public authorities) were disregarded.

(4) The second condition is that by virtue of any provision of Part IV
of the Data Protection Act 1998 the information is exempt from section
7(1)(c) of that Act (data subject's right of access to personal data).

(5) The duty to confirm or deny- (a) does not arise in relation
to information which is (or if it were held by the public authority would
be) exempt information by virtue of subsection (1), and (b) does
not arise in relation to other information if or to the extent that
either- (i) the giving to a member of the public of the confirmation or
denial that would have to be given to comply with section 1(1)(a) would
(apart from this Act) contravene any of the data protection principles or
section 10 of the Data Protection Act 1998 or would do so if the
exemptions in section 33A(1) of that Act were disregarded, or (ii) by
virtue of any provision of Part IV of the Data Protection Act 1998 the
information is exempt from section 7(1)(a) of that Act (data subject's
right to be informed whether personal data being processed).

(6) In determining for the purposes of this section whether anything
done before 24th October 2007 would contravene any of the data protection
principles, the exemptions in Part III of Schedule 8 to the Data
Protection Act 1998 shall be disregarded.

(7) In this section-

"the data protection principles" means the principles set out in Part I of
Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998, as read subject to Part II of
that Schedule and section 27(1) of that Act;

"data subject" has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of that Act;

"personal data" has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of that Act.

The term “personal data” is defined in the Data Protection Act as amended
by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which states:

“’Personal data’ means data which relates to a living individual who can

be identified –

(a) From those data, or

(b) Form those data and any other information which is in the possession
of, or likely to come into the possession of the data  controller; and
includes any expression of opinion about the individual  and any
indication of the intentions of the data controller or any person in
respect of the individual;” To determine whether or not it may disclose
personal data under the FOIA, Northumberland County Council must look to
the provisions of the Data

Protection Act 1998, which include the first to fifth data protection
principles. If the personal data is about someone other than the
applicant, there is an exemption if disclosure would breach any of the
data protection

principles set out in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998. Where
disclosure by a public authority of the personal data sought would
contravene the first data Protection Principle, it is absolutely exempt

from disclosure.

The first data protection principle states:

“Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular,
shall not be processed unless-

(a) at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and

(b) in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the conditions
in Schedule 3 is also met. The first data protection principle is designed
to ensure that any disclosure of personal information is fair and lawful.
Disclosure under the FOIA is considered as disclosure to the public at
large. It is therefore necessary to balance the public interest in
disclosure against the interests of the individual whose data it is. As to
the concept of fairness, the Council is required to consider the
reasonable expectations of the individual when they provided personal data

to the Council. The personal data which is held has been provided for the
purposes of the administration of the Council Tax system within
Northumberland, to enable the Council to collect Council Tax revenue from
the public. It is clear that when the public provides such information
this should be held confidentially, and the Council considers that it
would neither be fair nor lawful to release such information into the
public domain.

Public Interest Test Considerations

Section 40(2) is a qualified exemption which means that the information
falling within the exemption still has to be released unless the public
interest in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining
the exemption.

The Council has considered this matter fully and considered that it it
would be unfair to disclose the information requested, and moreover the
County Council is firmly of the view that there is no legitimate public
interest in the disclosure of this information.

Advice and Assistance

The County Council recognises its statutory duty to provide advice and
assistance under Section 16 of the Act.

Subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the Council
is seeking to be transparent and open in its response.

Notice of Refusal

With the exception of the information disclosed, please treat this letter
as a Notice of Refusal as regards the information covered by the Section
40(2) Exemption.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request an internal review by writing within 2 months
from the date of this response to the Information Governance Office:

Information Governance Office

Northumberland County Council

County Hall

Morpeth

NE61 2EF

Email: [Northumberland County Council request email]

Information Commissioner

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have a
right by Section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner
for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act at:

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545 745 / Fax: 01625 524 510

Email: [email address]

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours faithfully

FOI Coordinator -
Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF

Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [Northumberland County Council request email]
Web: http://www.northumberland.gov.uk

References

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